Fourth annual Delaware Wine and Beer Festival is around the corner

Delaware will crown its first homebrew champion during the fourth annual Delaware Wine and Beer Festival at the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village in Dover on Oct. 20.

Staff Reports

Delaware will crown its first homebrew champion during the fourth annual Delaware Wine and Beer Festival at the Delaware Agricultural Museum and Village in Dover on Oct. 20.

The event is an American Homebrewers Association sanctioned competition, meaning the champion will be selected by Beer Judge Certified Program judges. Festival-goers who purchase the VIP ticket package will select the semi-finalists in five categories and the certified judges will pick the champion from among those five.

The winner, in addition to holding the state title, will earn $250 in cash, a minimum of $250 in prizes from the Delaware Wine and Ale Trail and Cabot Cheese, plus a ribbon. Five finalists will earn ribbons. The competition is produced by Kent County Tourism and sponsored by How Do You Brew, a wine and beer homebrew store located in Newark.

The five categories will include IPA, American Ale (pale, amber and brown), Delaware-Grown Fruit Beer, Belgian/French Ale and Specialty.

The first 500 ticket buyers will receive their choice of a free wine or beer glass, and VIP ticket holders can sample and judge the semi-finalists of the Delaware Homebrew Championship. This year's event will include expanded free parking adjacent to the festival grounds, the 19th century farm village.

The theme of this year's Delaware Wine and Beer Festival is "Drink Local, Eat Local and Buy Local" and the event will feature select Delaware restaurants serving seafood, barbecue and gourmet sandwiches. The event will include 40 Delaware artists and artisans, a corn hole tournament, keg tossing competition and live reggae music by the Island Boyz.

To enter the competition, purchase a $10 "Brew Competition" ticket at eventbrite/delawarehomebrew.

Competitors are asked to deliver their entries to the festival grounds in Dover between 11 a.m. and noon on Sunday, Oct. 20.